Out of the blue, it seems that we are now linked to Art & Crafts; they are putting out Gang ofLosers in the U! S! A! Thank Heaven.

I know it's hard to keep track of who puts out what with us. We've shuffled things around somany times. We consider them lessons learned. And The Dears don't really do worldwide majorlabel deals, though God knows we've had a few drinks together. So it's taken awhile, but therelationships we now have with each of our labels around the world are utterly special --written in the stars, even. Our labels work very hard at something that may or may not give themany return and they work hard to get it right. The pain in the ass that they bring to us and usto them, we think, is totally worth it. The Dears' music is delivered to you intact, handpicked,and with much, much love.

So allow us to recap and clear up any confusion. Apart from the standard jewel case version,there are many different packaging things going on, depending on where you are in the world:

The first single is "Ticket To Immortality." It's a song inspired by birth, legend, reality andfate. It's coming out in the UK on Bella Union with b-sides on AUGUST 14.ON CD: w/ Raise The DeadON OPAQUE WHITE VINYL: w/The HighestWe've also done a video for it, just us playing the song, in a grand way. The ending is prettyhilarious. Look out for it. It's out there somewhere...

7.23.2006

Tonight I'm DJing for the first time at Sneaky Dee's, for the weekly music night known as "Wavelength" -- the cover charge is pay what you can. There's going to be three awesome bands playing, and I'll be spinning some awesome tracks in between. Some of the artists I'll be playing include:

7.19.2006

Big news emerging this week -- Steve Johns, Irish Tim and myself, we are all going to see the motherfucking WHO in the London Fleet Centre, this September!

At first, I'll admit to balking at the prospect of seeing the remaining one-half of this legendary rock band. Another glory tour to save up for retirement, right? Right. I can understand that, and I'm not expecting to hear any new songs or obscure b-sides...

I'm going in with an understanding that this show will be about a celebration of the career that the WHO have already had, and celebrating the remaining members who can still rock this material harder than anyone else on the planet, despite their age.

My devotion to the WHO centres around two amazing rock epics -- Tommy and Who's Next. In high school, I'm not really sure why I took to "Tommy," it could have been any album really. But there is so much to those songs that I connected with immediately; the spiritual journey, the continued feeling of isolation, yearning for escape and obviously, the monstrously loud guitars. In "Almost Famous," in order to understand rock and roll, the young writer is given a copy of this album... I lived this moment, and it changed my life.

But when it comes to "Who's Next," you really can't get much better in the ways of classic rock albums. It's an essentially perfect rock album, perfectly bookended by "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." And despite all the sabotage it has faced in recent years, including Limp Bizkit's cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Bargain" showing up in car commercials, this album maintains a special place in my record collection.

Compared to their contemporary rivals Led Zepplin, the WHO have always been a more working man's rock band. Coming from a small town, there's a realness to their songs, a certain conflicted reality of daydreaming and living in today's world that's really attractive.

So here's to the WHO, still rocking as hard as they ever were. Included below are a few choice video clips.

7.15.2006

The Dears are Canada's best music export for one simple reason; their songs actually mean something. Broken Social Scene hides the importance of their songs behind layers of dense noise all in the name of community. Wolf Parade, if they don't simply collapse before their second album, utilize arcane symbolism as a vessel for their intensity. New Pornographers are too sugary sweet, with maybe a tad too much ironic consumption for their own good. And the Arcade Fire, time will tell if they can live up to the hype -- lets keep in mind that their debut EP was only half-decent at best, and Funeral prone to over-dramatics.

I remember first seeing The Dears around the time of the Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique album, performing on a tiny riser at the back of Molson Park during a freezing cold Edgefest. At this point the band still large a very obvious Godspeed You Black Emperor! influence to their sound, and I can vividly remember they performed with a full horn section and a cellist. I can't remember exactly what songs they played that day, but I can hear the pounding drums, the squealing guitars and Murray Lightburn's emotional, soaring voice. I should note that this concert was before I ever entertained a love of Morrissey, or even alot of indie music in general. Growing up as a music fan in Belleville, Ontario, I was only ever really exposed to Elvis and Roy Orbinson. I should also make a note that at this same stage I saw By Divine Right -- another unsung Canadian band that needs to come back with another amazing album, pronto. I'd hate to see them miss out on this current wave of indie popularity in the same way that Tricky Woo missed out on the wave of garage rock popularity.

If you read through Murray Lightburn's studio diary, from the recording sessions for "Gang of Losers," you can tell he is obviously concerned about how fans are going to receive the new album -- that the band has abandoned their brit-pop sound, etc. Well here's the good news and the bad news; the lonely keyboards and orchestral strains have been pared back in favour of more guitar-and-drums rock music, but The Dears have been reborn again as a upbeat rock monolith. The band still maintains their dual identity of self-reflective songs paired with anthemic life-lessons, but does so by looking at the world around them and looking at the bright side of life. This a band that began their transformation with the "Protest EP," dressing in military fatigues, and after the growing pains of "No Cities Left," Murry Lightburn symbolically and literally is clothed in white, a new performer, leading a new and original band. I was planning on going into each song into more detail, but I really want you to just discover the identity of every song yourself. Here's a few leads on the song, but when the album finally comes out in August on Arts and Crafts, be sure to pick it up.

7.10.2006

I'm not sure how this hit the internets already, but this is Thom Yorke's solo performance on Henry Rollins' IFC show, which is set to air on July 15. Apparently there must be some kindly natured music fans in the control room out at the IFC studios that have decided to share this awesome treat. It's interesting how Thom performs the track solo on an acoustic guitar... much different than the original on "The Eraser," which if you haven't heard yet, you should. Good luck trying to find it, XL's got this one pretty wrapped up. I wrote about this album earlier, but the link for the album is dead.

7.07.2006

Battlestar Galactica is a familiar story about an oddly different culture -- humans from another solar system, trying to fight their way back to earth and rejoin the race of their long lost brothers and sisters. It's fitting then that the soundtrack to this modern scifi classic is slightly discomforting, while also being epic in nature. It's all thanks to Bear McCreary, a very young and very intelligent composer who has created a form of world music in every sense of the word -- at times it sounds like it could have come from any continent across the globe. However, I cannot nearly do the music as much justice as this review of a intimate live performance of Battlestar's greatest soundtrack moments.

7.04.2006

Yeah, I didn't blog on Canada Day, but I'm blogging today about July 4th, and that doesn't make me a bad Canadian.... I actually enjoyed my day off! Go figure. Anyways here's a couple of YouTube clips to observe this day. Also, be sure to listen to Springsteen's words of caution. They ring truer today than they ever have.